"I've just been signed to my new label, which I'm really happy about," Collins told Digital Spy. "I'm back in the studio for the majority of October."

On leaving RCA, he added: "It was all mutually agreed. To be honest, it just didn't feel like we were going in the same direction.

"I loved working with them but it just got to a point where we both could go either way."

Talking about his new album, Collins explained: "We've got about seven or eight songs that we're going to put down. We've got some new tracks and we've got some acoustic ones that are a little bit different.

"[Acoustic songs are] something that I've done before, but the record label I was with previously had different ideas and that's kind of why we separated."